MEDFORD, Ore. – Rogue Valley schools are reacting to Friday’s shooting in Connecticut, discussing students, safety, and their own response. The shock and sadness from Medford schools has them reiterating their own safety precautions as they try to make sense of a tragedy.

School resource officer Ernie Whiteman works with students at several schools North Medford High School, Wilson Elementary, Kennedy Elementary, and others. Friday morning he watched on TV as a nightmare unfolded in Connecticut, Whiteman and other school resource officers work with Medford schools, creating relationships with students, and coordinating emergency plans.

Whiteman says most Medford schools have put in fences, camera, and other measures to try to prevent an intruder from walking on to campus. Medford schools say employees go over their emergency and lock down plans and in an actual emergency, they work with police and put information on the district’s web site. In the wake of the Connecticut tragedy, they hope local families can still feel secure.

School resource officers say they will be keeping their doors open, if any students and families want to talk to them about the Connecticut tragedy or their own school’s safety.